Rep. Cantor's Class Warfare

October 21, 2011 9:45 am ET

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is speaking at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School today (Update: Cantor's scheduled speech was canceled), where he plans to discuss how to bridge the gap between rich and poor in the United States. Given that Cantor has dedicated his political career to upholding this disparity, he has wealth of knowledge on the topic. Since becoming House Majority Leader, Cantor has done everything in his power to protect the wealthy from making the same sacrifices he's determined to force upon everyone else. Whether he's working to end Medicare for seniors, withholding relief from disaster victims to secure further spending cuts, or using the unemployed as political fodder while rejecting policies that will create jobs, Eric Cantor has proven that he is committed to making life easier for people who are already on top, even if it comes at the expense of those who are struggling.

The Unemployed

President Barack Obama's $447 billion jobs bill was declared dead in
Congress Monday, as Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.) said he did not expect the House to take it up as a
package.

Mr. Cantor announced the House would consider elements of Mr.
Obama's jobs agenda in the coming month, including trade agreements the White
House sent to Congress Monday and a tax break for government contractors. But
asked if the president's jobs bill as a whole is dead, Mr. Cantor replied,
"Yes." [Wall Street Journal, 10/3/11]

Macroeconomic Advisers LLC:
American Jobs Act Will Boost Employment By 2.1 Million Over 2012-13. From Macroeconomic Advisers
LLC's Macroadvisers blog:

We estimate that the American
Jobs Act (AJA), if enacted, would give a significant boost to GDP and
employment over the near-term.

The
various tax cuts aimed at raising workers' after-tax income and encouraging
hiring and investing, combined with the spending increases aimed at maintaining
state & local employment and funding infrastructure modernization, would:

Boost
the level of GDP by 1.3% by the end of 2012, and by 0.2% by the end of 2013.

Raise
nonfarm establishment employment by 1.3 million by the end of 2012 and 0.8
million by the end of 2013, relative to the baseline. [Macroadvisers,9/8/11, emphasis original]

Moody's: American Jobs Act Will Create 1.9
Million Jobs. As reported by UPI: "President Barack Obama's $447
billion job-creation plan would likely add 1.9 million payroll jobs and grow
the U.S. economy 2 percent, a leading economist said. The plan, which Obama
outlined before a joint session of Congress Thursday, would likely cut the
unemployment rate by a percentage point, Moody's Analytics Chief Economist Mark
Zandi said as Obama prepared to tout the plan at Virginia's University of
Richmond." [UPI, 9/9/11]

Cantor Admitted Republicans Have Been Focused On Spending Cuts,
Not Job Growth. From Slate's Dave Weigel:

At his
pen-and-pad briefing today, I asked Cantor if Republican if he'd been surprised
that the cuts of Cut and Grow had not come with the, well, growth.

"We've
been about cut and grow," he said. "The fact is, the last eight months plus, we've been about cuts. And
that's why it is imperative that all of us join together, work with the
president, to see how we can grow this economy. That's why I welcome the
president's speech tomorrow night, I welcome him to Richmond on Friday. I also
think it's imperative in the spirit of trying to reach results, and stop
impugning motive, and calling people out, and insinuating people are putting
politics above country." [Slate,
9/7/11, emphasis added]

Cantor Decried "Pumping Up
Unemployment Benefits." From an August 5, 2011, appearance by Cantor on CNBC:

JIM CRAMER
(HOST): One of the things that I hear you say - obviously you're very concerned
about unemployment, which is spot-on, so I imagine therefore you are certainly
for extending unemployment benefits given the chaotic situation for most of the
workforce.

CANTOR: Jim,
the most important thing we can do for somebody who's unemployed is to see if
we can get them a job. I mean that's what needs to be the focus. For too long in Washington now we've been
worried about pumping up the stimulus monies, pumping up unemployment benefits,
and to a certain extent you've got states in which you can get unemployment for
almost two years. And I think those people on
unemployment benefits would rather have a job. [CNBC,
8/5/11, via Political Correction]

Disaster Victims

Cantor Demanded Offsets For Disaster
Relief For His District. From Roll Call:

"There
is an appropriate federal role in incidents like this," [Cantor] said after
touring the damage in his district. "Obviously, the problem is that people in
Virginia don't have earthquake insurance."

The
next step will be for Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) to decide whether to make
an appeal for federal aid, Cantor said. The House Majority Leader would support
such an effort but would look to offset the cost elsewhere in the federal
budget.

"All
of us know that the federal government is busy spending money it doesn't have,"
Cantor said in Culpeper, where the quake damaged some buildings along a busy
shopping thoroughfare. [Roll Call, 8/24/11]

Cantor-Led "Partisan
Standoff" Over Offsetting Disaster Relief "Nearly Shut Down The Government." From the Huffington Post:

Federal
Emergency Management Agency officials have been busy convincing Congress to
quickly fill its emergency aid coffers, as the agency finds its funds drained
by the natural disasters that have hit the country in recent months. The
insistence, led by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), that Congress
should cut spending elsewhere to offset disaster relief funding, led to a
partisan standoff and nearly shut down the government. [Huffington Post, 9/27/11]

Women

As you all know, at the beginning of our new majority, the House
moved to try and cut off all taxpayer funding to Planned Parenthood and its abortion
clinics.

But that is not the way things played out. But I can tell you,
after November 2012, we look forward to a Senate and a White House that will
partner with us to, once and for all, eliminate government funding for any and
all organizations that perform abortions. [Cantor Address to Values Voter
Summit, 10/7/11, via Nexis]

Cantor
Supported GOP Spending Plan, H.R. 1. In February, Cantor voted "yea"
on passage of H.R. 1, the Republican legislation to fund the government through
the end of the 2011 fiscal year. [H.R. 1, Vote #147, 2/19/11]

GOP
Spending Plan "Would Cut All $327
Million From Title X." As reported by the Wall Street Journal: "Among the programs that would be
eliminated entirely under the new Republican spending plan announced today is
Title X, a which provides family planning for low-income Americans. The GOP
plan would cut all $327 million from Title X." [Wall Street Journal, 2/9/11]

Title X
Funding Supports Numerous Preventive Health Services, Not Abortions.According to HHS' Office of Population Affairs:
"Over the past 40 years, Title X Family Planning clinics have played a
critical role in ensuring access to a broad range of family planning and related
preventive health services for millions of low-income or uninsured individuals.
In addition to contraceptive services and related counseling, Title X-supported
clinics provide a number of related preventive health services such as: patient
education and counseling; breast and pelvic examinations; breast and cervical
cancer screening according to nationally recognized standards of care; sexually
transmitted disease (STD) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) prevention
education, counseling, testing and referral; and pregnancy diagnosis and
counseling. By law, Title X funds may not be used in programs where abortion is
a method of family planning." [Office of Population Affairs, accessed 10/4/11]

Seniors

GOP
Budget Turns Medicare Into A Voucher System. From the House
GOP budget, "The Path to Prosperity":

Save Medicare for current and future
generations while making no changes for those in and near retirement. For
younger workers, when they reach eligibility, Medicare will provide a
Medicare payment and a list of guaranteed coverage options from which
recipients can choose a plan that best suits their needs. These future
Medicare beneficiaries will be able to choose a plan the same way members of
Congress do. Medicare will provide additional assistance for lower-income
beneficiaries and those with greater health risks. [The Path To
Prosperity, 4/5/11,
emphasis added]

CBO: Under The GOP
Budget, "Most Elderly People Would Pay More For Their Health Care Than
They Would Pay Under The Current Medicare System." According to a Congressional Budget
Office analysis of the House GOP budget proposal: "Under the proposal,
most elderly people would pay more for their health care than they would pay
under the current Medicare system. For a typical 65-year-old with average
health spending enrolled in a plan with benefits similar to those currently
provided by Medicare, CBO estimated the beneficiary's spending on premiums and
out-of-pocket expenditures as a share of a benchmark: what total health care
spending would be if a private insurer covered the beneficiary. By 2030, the
beneficiary's spending would be 68 percent of that benchmark under the
proposal, 25 percent under the extended-baseline scenario, and 30 percent under
the alternative fiscal scenario." [CBO.gov, 4/5/11]

Wall Street Journal: GOP Plan "Essentially End[s]
Medicare" For Americans Under 55 Years Old. As
reported by the Wall Street Journal: "The plan would essentially end Medicare,
which now pays most of the health-care bills for 48 million elderly and
disabled Americans, as a program that directly pays those bills. Mr. Ryan and
other conservatives say this is necessary because of the program's soaring costs.
Medicare cost $396.5 billion in 2010 and is projected to rise to $502.8 billion
in 2016. At that pace, spending on the program would have doubled between 2002
and 2016. Mr. Ryan's proposal would apply to those currently under the age of
55, and for those Americans would convert Medicare into a 'premium support'
system." [Wall
Street Journal, 4/4/11]

Cantor: America's Promises To Seniors
"Frankly, Are Not Going To Be Kept For Many."
From a Wall Street Journal interview
with Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA): "What we need to be able to do is to demonstrate
that that is the better way for the people of this country. Get
the fiscal house in order, come to
grips with the fact that promises have been made that, frankly, are not going
to be kept for many. [Cantor
interview with Wall Street Journal, 8/4/11, via YouTube]

The Poor

GOP Budget Puts Two Social Safety Net Programs Into Block
Grants. From the
House GOP budget, The Path to Prosperity:

This budget ends an onerous, one-size-fits-all approach by converting the federal share of Medicaid spending into a block grant that gives states the flexibility to tailor their Medicaid programs to the needs of their unique populations. [...]

Convert
the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) into a block grant
tailored for each state's low-income population, indexed for inflation and
eligibility beginning in 2015 - after employment has recovered. Make aid
contingent on work or job training. [The Path To Prosperity, 4/5/11]

Debt Commission Chairmen: GOP Budget Cuts To "Safety
Net Programs" Would "Disproportionately" Affect
"Disadvantaged Populations." The leaders
of the president's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform -
former Sen. Alan Simpson and former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles -
wrote: "The [Republican budget] plan largely exempts defense spending from
reductions and would not apply any of the savings from eliminating or reducing
tax expenditures as part of tax reform to deficit reduction. As a result, the
Chairman's plan relies on much larger reductions in domestic discretionary
spending than does the Commission proposal, while also calling for savings in
some safety net programs - cuts which would place a disproportionately adverse
effect on certain disadvantaged populations."
[Simpson-Bowles Statement, 4/5/11, via The Hill]

CBO: Block Grants Could Limit Medicaid Programs To The Point
That "Providers Might Be Less Willing To Treat Medicaid Enrollees." In its analysis of The
Path To Prosperity, the Congressional Budget Office wrote: "If states
reduced spending for their Medicaid programs, there would be a number of
potential implications for both providers and beneficiaries. Given that payment
rates for providers under Medicaid are already generally lower than they are
under Medicare and private insurance, if states lowered payment rates even
further, providers might be less willing to treat Medicaid enrollees. As a
result, Medicaid enrollees could face more limited access to care." [CBO, 4/5/11]

If States Have To Reduce Medicaid Benefits Or Eligibility,
Low-Income Patients Will Have To Pay More Out Of Pocket And Providers Could
Lose Money.In its analysis of The
Path To Prosperity, the Congressional Budget Office wrote: "If states
reduced benefits or eligibility levels, beneficiaries could face higher
out-of-pocket costs, and providers could face more uncompensated care as
beneficiaries lost coverage for certain benefits or lost coverage
altogether." [CBO, 4/5/11]

CBPP: GOP Budget's Food Stamps Block Grant Proposal Would
"Eliminate" Program's "Ability To Respond To Rising Need ...
During Recessions." According to the Center on Budget
and Policy Priorities: "Chairman Ryan's proposal to convert SNAP
[Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly called food stamps] into a
block grant beginning in 2015 would seriously damage the program and cause harm
to the millions of low-income Americans who rely on it. Although the chairman's
proposal does not include details on how deeply the block grant would cut the
program, a capped funding structure of the kind he proposes would largely
eliminate SNAP's ability to respond to rising need, such as during recessions.
In such times, states would be forced to cut benefits to some households or
create waiting lists for needy families." [CBPP.org, 4/5/11]

CBPP: Converting SNAP And Medicaid To Block Grants
"Would Not Only Increase Hardship And Destitution In Recessions, But Also
Would Further Weaken A Slumping Economy And Lead To The Loss Of Many More
Jobs." According
to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

The plan justifies its large food stamp
cuts by claiming that the trend in food stamp costs "is one of relentless
and unsustainable growth." The claim is false. Food stamp costs have risen
sharply in the past few years due mainly to the recession and a temporary food
stamp benefit increase of the 2009 Recovery Act. As the economy recovers, food
stamp costs will drop and, by the end of the decade, will return to about 2005
levels as a share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to the
Congressional Budget Office (CBO)

Finally, the impact of the Ryan plan
would be harshest during recessions. Currently, Medicaid as well as SNAP
(formerly known as food stamps) respond automatically to assist more people
when, during recessions, more people lose their jobs, income, and health
insurance. This automatic response both lessens hardship and keeps the economy
from plunging deeper into recession, by adding more purchasing power to the economy
that replaces part of the loss of demand from consumers and businesses. The
Ryan plan would convert both Medicaid and SNAP to block grants, however, which
means they would no longer respond automatically to increased need during
recessions. That would not only increase hardship and destitution in
recessions, but also would further weaken a slumping economy and lead to the
loss of many more jobs. [CBPP.org, 4/6/11]

Read more about how the House GOP budget
proposal would harm the poor HERE.

The Uninsured

Rep. Cantor Voted To Repeal The Affordable
Care Act. Rep. Cantor was the lead sponsor
of H.R. 2, the "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act," which passed
with unanimous Republican support in the House. [H.R. 2, Vote #14,
1/19/11]

32 Million More People Will Have Health Care
Insurance Because Of The Affordable Care Act.
From the Kaiser Family Foundation: "The Affordable Care Act will reduce the number of
people without health insurance by expanding eligibility for Medicaid and
providing tax credits that make insurance more affordable for people buying
coverage on their own through new health insurance Exchanges. The Congressional
Budget Office projects that 32 million more people will have insurance by 2019." [Kaiser Family
Foundation, accessed 10/20/11]